AGREEMENT SIGNED ON CO-FINANCING FILM ABOUT SUFFERING OF SERBS IN DRAKULIĆ

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 20 /SRNA/ - The Director of the Audio-Visual Center of Republika Srpska, Anja Ilić, and the director of the production company Kvaka 22, filmmaker Saša Hajduković, have signed an agreement on the co-financing of a feature film about the suffering of the Serb people in 1942 in the Banja Luka neighborhood of Drakulić.

Ilić stated that the selected project, titled "Bjesnilo" /"Rage"/, will be co-financed from the Republika Srpska Budget with BAM 1.8 million. She emphasized that 35 percent of the film’s budget has been secured, and that the estimated value of the project exceeds BAM five million. Ilić called on all interested institutions and individuals, as well as local communities that recognize the importance of this topic, to join the project as partners, financially or in other ways, highlighting its significance for both cinematography and Republika Srpska. "The Audio-Visual Center has been involved in this project from the very beginning, starting with the launch of a public call for script and project development. We have completed the public call procedure and successfully carried it out for production. The evaluation committee for the project included the Dean of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka Dragana Purković Macan, a screenwriter from Belgrade Nataša Drakulić, and a producer from Slovenia Aleš Pavlin," Ilić told reporters in Banja Luka following the contract signing. Hajduković said that the filming of the movie "Bjesnilo" could start in the summer of 2026. He stated that the screenplay was written together with him by Željko Stjepanović and the young writer Goran Starčević. "The working title is 'Bjesnilo' and it refers to Banja Luka at the beginning of World War II, specifically the period of the NDH, the arrival of the Ustashas, and the events that culminated in 1942 in Drakulić, Šargovac, and Motike. We tried to understand the reality in which this terrible event happened. I hope we will be worthy of the topic we have chosen," said Hajduković. The Audio-Visual Center of Srpska emphasizes that this film will focus on one of the most tragic and least cinematically explored events from the recent history of the Serb people, with the aim of preserving collective memory and the culture of remembrance through contemporary cinematic expression. In February 1942, the Ustaše brutally killed more than 2,300 Serbs, including 551 children, in the Banja Luka neighborhood of Drakulić, the villages of Motike and Šargovac, as well as in the Rakovac mine.